Here's a quick report on Sully after 3 days of having him.
In the house:He's active and puppish but will settle if told to. If left to his own devices I suspect he'd get into something, he's nosey as heck. Submissive with my older GSD, respectful but not a punk~will cower not throw himself around. He plays with Merlin well. With the 3 year old GSD, Draco, who's very dominant in play, he's wonderful, outdoors they share toys and run, run, run all over the yard but Sully will recall first time out of play. He will BGN immediately anywhere on command, prefers the snow over dirt. The chihuahua is another matter. He's fairly obcessed with him and any fluffy coated dog~had an obcession with a Tibetan Terrier last night that the terrier took for aggression, Sully just kept on staring at him! If there's nothing else going on in the home he will seek out Hercules to try to engage him in anything~Herc mostly just yells at him from his perch on a chair in my den. I found two Bijions for him to play with~customers dogs. A female that wanted to eat him and he was respectful with and later on that day a submissive male that he pummelled. He did recall, but was not respectful.
Field trips~
Main Street walk~forging a bit.
Jeweler~perfect.Post office~good but wants to sniff people sometimes.
Grocery store~excellent except in the busy deli, a little overwhelmed with the odors. With practice and bait he was perfect there. Heels with the cart with an occasional reminder. Of all of the dogs I have taken out, he's the best yet.
Breed handling class~dogs are not obedience trained so are young and bouncy. He got the idea that he needed to be watching me and did, nice job!
Agility class~he's a natural, loved it.
He needs to be cleaned up on his obedience just a hair, forgets to auto sit, etc.
Impulsivity is getting much better, he's on a Triple Crown collar but I suspect that he will transition to a flat ok.
Tasks are good, tail is up and wagging the entire time he's working. The more difficult the task the better he likes it, he lives to work.
My main problems with Sully are these:
He whines in the crate. All. The. Time. Yikes!
He has no sense of personal space~he will crash into a person or another dog and doesn't understand if I yelp in pain or fall to the ground~he's reather oblivious to my feelings actually. This doesn't always occur during play, he could be trying to snuggle up to your legs and head butt your knee.
The whining in the crate is why we insist on crate time for all puppies EVERY DAY, so this doesn't become a habit that would preclude your pup from graduating.
The personal space issue may not be able to be corrected. I have purposely stepped into his space, stepped on his toes, shuffled into him, used my knees to push him back, crowded him and so far he's not impressed. :P With new puppies we do the same but they're usually so small that they understand a bit more about personal space.
